BEATS RHYMES & LIFE
[REVIEW]
I was supposed to write this review days ago, but when I sat down to write it no words would come. Why? Because I didn’t really know what to say about it definitively. In other words, I couldn’t say if I liked it or not. I still don’t know.
Part of the issue is that I am close to the subject matter at hand. I was around when a lot of the things that were featured in the early part of A Tribe Called Quest’s career were going down. That, coupled with the fact the I have been giving the monumental side-eye to Michael Rapaport’s beef with Q-Tip made it hard to be objective.
So what I can say honestly, though it may seem like a cop out, that there were things I liked about the film, things I hated, and even a couple of things I actually loved. Let’s start with the love, always the best part of anything…
The very early days of ATCQ are a mystery to many, so the illumination of how Phife, Ali, and Tip met in high school is a gem. They relay on film how they starting rhyming just as a passing thought, not really being serious or thinking it would really take them anywhere. At this same school went the members of the Jungle Brothers, and their mutual interests lit up all of their creativity like a match to a flame. There is a thorough explanation of how they came up with their name, The Native Tongue cipher and it’s philosophy, and how each member of the Native Tongue crew was added; De La Soul, Queen Latifah, etc. You know that kismet brought them together, and all of them being in the same place, at the same time, with the same mind-set was no mistake. Their very obvious, honest love of the music and each other is deeply touching and inspirational.
The viewer gets to see footage of ATCQ’s early performances, and while they were trying to find their place in the world and what “fit” them, I was reminded of the early scenes of Chris Rock’s “CB4″ when they went through different rap genres, including the “peace and love” hippie phase. These scenes were interspersed with reflections of many rappers who knew or toured with them in their early phases, including The Roots’ Black Thought, who remarked on their “questionable fashion choices” to which I laughed knowingly. There were a few laughs to be had during this segment.
Those were the best parts of it; almost like watching an episode of TV One’s “Unsung”.
On to the likable parts, for lack of a better phrase:
We get insight into what Tribe was like as a dynamic, with Q-Tip being a super-perfectionist. It’s now understood why Tip’s solo projects take so long to be released, as their former manager, Chris Lighty said, “if you don’t pull away the music from Tip by force, he would be what would amount to another D’Angelo or an Axl Rose from Guns N Roses”. You get to hear the music, if you’re a fan of Tribe, that you know and love so well like “Bonita Applebaum” (for those who don’t know, it was really just a sweet ode to the hood girl with the fat *ss) and the stories behind such hits as “Lyrics To Go”. There is a Q-Tip impression of Redd Foxx (!) and some sweet eye candy, as Ali Rasheed Muhammed has morphed into almost super-human handsomeness. Also brought to light was how Phife had to deal with being ill while performing, sometimes to the point of almost passing out on stage. Which brings me to the things I hated about this movie, and made it seem much longer than it’s 93 minutes.
No disrespect, and I’m glad Phife is doing well, but entirely too much time and focus is given to Dawg’s battle with diabetes. While that is an integral part of what led to the trials and tribulations of the group, I’m guessing that so much focus is given as Phife was the only member of the group the fully cooperated with the film from it’s inception, to the end, to the screenings. It takes up a good third of the movie, and drastically slows and weighs it down. These parts were begging to be edited, and a shorter film would have made the movie more arresting, that or replacing it with more reflections from rappers that were around them at their height. Then again that probably would, or did, prove a difficult task, as New York rappers are a tightly knit force, and certainly wouldn’t side with Rapaport over Tip.
Stylistically there were problems as well. Tribe is in my top three rap groups of all time, but I felt this film was premature. Or maybe it was just put in the wrong hands, I dunno…Rapaport’s too often repeated slow-mo shots of them doing simple things like just walking brought to mind the filmmaking idolatry of a RollingStones or a U-2 type documentary, which is hardly warranted. Just as unwarranted was the high placement and emphasis on Jarobi, at one time a member of ATCQ. While he was an important part of their early dynamic, he was not on the albums that made ATCQ rap legends, and the continued focus on him is distracting, and brings one to think “what is going on here?”. Again, I believe cooperation with the filmmakers played a huge part. The strife Q-Tip and Phife have had for the past few years and the circumstances surrounding it are made crystal clear, but at the same time there seems to be an almost underhanded attempt to make Tip seem like a Diana Ross who left The Supremes. This is a lopsided viewpoint, and again a problem.
Are there more problems than things to like or love about this film? I would say it is at an even 50/50, and to that end, 50 percent of the people seeing it will hate it, and 50 percent will love it (probably the die hard fans). Scratch that, lets say 40 percent will love it, 40 percent will hate it, and 20 percent (me included) can’t decide either way, but will ultimately forget about why they even bothered to think so hard about it in the first place.
MOVIE REVIEW:
‘Beats Rhymes and Life’
Hip-hop ‘feud’ gets bad rap in documentary
Sony Pictures Classics The documentary “Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest” chronicles how (from left) rappers Phife Dawg, Q-Tip and Jarobi White came together, along with DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad, to form the pioneering hip-hop group known by the acronym ATCQ.
For a band documentary, there is precious little music in “Beats Rhymesand Life,” the film about pioneering hip-hop act A Tribe Called Quest. Directed by actor and avowed ATCQ fan Michael Rapaport, the film shuttles between a history of the band, appreciation of its music and an exploration of the tensions between co-founders and childhood friendsQ-Tip (born Jonathan Davis) and Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor) as they navigate the group’s reunion tour.
The most interesting parts of “Beats Rhymes & Life” focus on the founding of the band, its early history and impact. Q-Tip and Phife grew up together in Queens, N.Y., in the 1980s, and came of age as the nearby hip-hop act Run-D.M.C. were breaking as a nationwide sensation. The group they founded, along with DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White (who left the band), broke new ground in hip-hop, unifying the genre with jazz and soul through the use of samples and innovative beats.
More than that, the rappers pioneered a brand of hip-hop that contrasted starkly with the gangster style that was gaining popularity on the West Coast in the early 1990s. Along with De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Queen Latifah, Busta Rhymes and others, ATCQ propounded a gentle, more humanistic emceeing style, with less braggadocio and more romantic lyrical content. Interviews with Q-Tip and Phife about how their sound came together - especially recollections of an unexpected explosion of creativity at Manhattan's Murry Bergtraum High School - are compelling.
But Mr. Rapaport errs in trying too hard to impose a narrative on his subjects. It’s well known that ATCQ was not a Lennon-McCartney-style partnership. Q-Tip is regarded, rightly, as the musical pioneer. As a lyricist and producer, Q-Tip set the tone for hip-hop in the early 1990s, and helped situate the genre in the continuum of black music. Phife has a more accessible stage presence, with his distinctive high voice and unforgettable rhyming style, but he just doesn’t have Q-Tip’s musical chops. Still, Mr. Rapaport tries to play up creative tensions between Q-Tip and Phife, accentuating the conflict between the two as they share the stage on a reunion tour.
The film also makes it seem as if the pair’s friendship is in a shambles during a crucial moment in Phife’s life, as he confronts worsening diabetes and requires a kidney transplant. Much of this, however, is just Phife venting for the camera.
It’s clear that Phife had more time to spare for Mr. Rapaport’s cameras than did Q-Tip, who is a fleeting presence. Probably the single most satisfying scene is a casual trip record-shopping with Q-Tip. In some ways, a 90-minute excursion with Q-Tip through some moldering LP library would’ve been a more fitting tribute to the band’s legacy than the choppy morass of “Beats Rhymes & Life.”
Quibbles aside, fans of ATCQ won’t want to miss “Beats Rhymes & Life.” But they might have preferred a different movie: one with archival concert footage with at least a few songs that play all the way through, instead of the snippets we get here.
★★½
TITLE: “Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest”
CREDITS: Directed by Michael Rapaport
RATING: R, for language
RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
>via: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/14/movie-review-beats-rhymes-and...
Beats, Rhymes and Life (2011)
NYT Critics' Pick
From left, Q-Tip, Jarobi White, Phife Dawg and Ali Shaheed Muhammad in Michael Rapaport's “Beats, Rhymes & Life.”
A Group’s Formation
and Dissolution
By ANDY WEBSTER
Published: July 7, 2011
Countless musical groups have been built on a complementary pair: John Lennon and Paul McCartney, say, or Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. A Tribe Called Quest, the influential 1990s hip-hop ensemble, had Q-Tip and Phife Dawg. With “Beats, Rhymes & Life,”the actor Michael Rapaport (Brad Pitt’s roommate in “True Romance”), in his feature directorial debut, does an admirable job recounting the group’s formation and dissecting its dissolution.
Q-Tip and Phife were childhood friends who grew up in Queens following pioneers of East Coast rap like Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. What they brought was a smoother, more sophisticated flow incorporating jazz influences. Part of the Native Tongues, a collective comprising De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers, among others, A Tribe Called Quest struck gold with albums like “The Low End Theory” (1991) and hits like “Bonita Applebum” and “Check the Rhime.” The likes of the Beastie Boys and Questlove of the Roots testify to its place in the pantheon.
Q-Tip — dapper, handsome, business savvy — is the McCartney here; Phife — short, scrappy, astringent — the Lennon. Phife brought the street; Q-Tip, in Phife’s words, “the paper.” The other members, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the thoughtful Jarobi White, assumed recessive roles. Mounting tension over control and frontman status eventually proved insurmountable, aggravated by Phife’s struggles with diabetes (his patient wife donated a kidney to him), and the group disbanded in 1998. (Q-Tip is a solo headliner at this year’s Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, which starts Monday.)
The film catches up with the still-bickering Tribe on the Rock the Bells reunion tour in 2008, offering faint hope: one more album remains in its record contract.
“Beats, Rhymes & Life” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Profanity.
BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE
The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest
Opens on Friday in New York and Los Angeles.
Directed by Michael Rapaport; director of photography, Robert Benavides; edited by Lenny Mesina; music by Madlib; produced by Edward Parks, Frank Mele, Mr. Rapaport, Eric Matthies, Mr. Benavides, Debra Koffler and ATCQ; released by Sony Pictures Classics. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes.
>via: http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/07/08/movies/beats-rhymes-and-life-review.html
__________________________
Michael Rapaport Speaks
To Carson Daly About
‘A Tribe Called Quest’
Documentary (Video)
February 18, 2011
Actor/Director Michael Rapaport speaks with TV show host Carson Daly on NBC’s late night talk show Last Call with Carson Daly about Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest - the documentary Rapaport directed about the legendary and groundbreaking Hip-Hop group A Tribe Called Quest and it’s recent debut at the Sundance Film Festival last month where it was met with rave reviews.
Watch the interview with Daly below where Rapaport explains his reason for making a documentary on the legendary Hip-Hop group, why more documentaries on Hip-Hop should be made and so much more.
Video courtesy MWP
>via: http://www.soulculture.co.uk/blogs/michael-rapaport-speaks-to-carson-daly-abo...